PARLIAMENTARY REPLY

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 3250

QUESTION 3250 FOR WRITTEN REPLY BY MRS A STEYN (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES:

(1) Whether (a) her department or (b) any entity reporting to her, placed any advertisements in The New Age since the inception of the newspaper up until the most recent date for which information is available; if not, in each case, what is the position in this regard; if so, (i) which entity placed the advertisements, (ii) on what date was each advertisement placed, (iii) what was the nature of each advertisement and (iv) what amount was spent on each advertisement;

(2) whether any of these advertisements were placed through the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS); if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details of the advertisements placed through the GCIS;

(3) whether an independent analysis was conducted by her department prior to placing advertisements to ascertain whether The New Age is read by the intended target market; if not, why not; if so, (a) who conducted the analysis and (b) what were the main (i) findings and (ii) recommendations of said analysis;

REPLY

(1) (a) (i) The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (ii) placed advertisements in The New Age on the following dates:

- Protected trees: 29 November 2011;

- Farmers' Registration Campaign: 19 January 2012;

- Budget Vote Speech: 21 May 2012

- Bursaries Awards 2012: 12 June 2012;

- Call to Register 2013; 25 June 2012;

- Arbor Week: 13 August 2012

- Learnerships: 17 August 2012

- LandCare Conference: 28 September 2012

- World Food Day: 10 October 2012

- World Food Day: 18, 25 and 31 October 2012 (three supplements);

(iii) The advertisements were placed on:

- Protected trees-A list of protected trees belonging to a particular species under section 12(1)(d) and section 15(1) of the National Forests Act of 1998;

- Farmers' Registration Campaign-The campaign is a census-style, statistical data collection on farms/farmers focusing on smallholder producers;

- Budget Vote Speech-The Budget Vote Speech of the Minister was published to inform South African citizens about the outcomes of achievements of the department;

- Bursaries Awards 2012-Bursaries relevant to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors are advertised annually in the national newspapers;

- Call to Register 2013-The department called all NGOs, CBOs and any other civil society organisation providing services to farm workers and dwellers to apply for registration for inclusion in the vulnerable workers for NGOs, CBOs and civil society database;

- Arbor Week-The department is responsible for coordinating National Arbor Week, which is celebrated from 1 to 7 September annually;

- Learnerships-Unemployed youth are invited to participate in the department's Experiential Training, Internship and Young Professional Development Programme;

- LandCare Conference-A governmental programme to create awareness about the importance of caring for the land;

- World Food Day-The department commemorates World Food Day annually on 16 October. The purpose is to inform communities on ways to mitigate the impact of the rise in food prices through, e.g. the establishment of food gardens;

(iv) Amount spent on each advertisement:

- Protected trees: R61 356,00;

- Farmers' Registration Campaign: R50 114,00;

- Budget Vote Speech: R309 277,44;

- Bursaries Awards 2012: R47 608,68;

- Call to register 2013; R50 114,00;

- Arbor Week: R64 432,80;

- Learnerships: R106 099,24;

- LandCare Conference: R61 211,16;

- World Food Day: R64 632,80;

- World Food Day: R647 054,88 (three supplements);

[Total: R 1 461 901.00 - Politicsweb]

(b) No advertisements were placed in The New Age by state-owned entities reporting to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

(2) All advertisements, except the advertisement for the Budget Vote Speech, were placed through Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). The Speech was published in The New Age, Beeld, Farmer's Weekly, The Star, Pretoria News, Landbouweekblad and Sowetan.

(3) The department did not conduct an independent analysis prior to placing the advertisements. GCIS was always consulted to provide advice regarding the intended target market.

 (a) GCIS conducts regular media sampling through its provincial offices, and complements this with verification of print orders and audited circulation data where available.

(b) (i) GCIS verified The New Age market entry deliverables as follows:

· 100-120 000 published copies per day;

· 24-32 pages daily;

· Editorial content drawn from all 9 provinces, distributed through 3 print regions;

· Electronic editions available through e-paper, iPad app, FaceBook, Twitter, and the online edition;

(ii) On the basis of the above analysis, The New Age was recommended as a suitable publication for government departments to use in conjunction with other mainstream and community media, particularly in support of provincial and local outreach initiatives.

Issued by Parliament, December 11 2012

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